Monday, 21 April 2008

The Fabergé egg flip

Afro-IP has come across an article penned by Kevin Mutch, Group Legal Director of the newly formed Fabergé Ltd, in SA's Without Prejudice publication entitled: IN OUR DREAMS… THE PHENOMENAL STORY OF FABERGE. Aside from the very interesting story behind the brand and its ownership, is the strategy adopted to wrest ownership of the Fabergé trade mark portfolio from the Mugabe-like clutches of Unilever. The super luxury brand, in this blogger's view, was never a fit in the Unilever stable, which did not seem to be able to harness and properly exploit its appeal. Instead the brand found itself associated with mid market household goods which detracted from its exclusive heritage making it less marketable. The alluring aspect of the strategy was the that it was aggressive; it involved a process of systemmatically attacking vulnerable rights of Unilever's FABERGE trade mark portfolio in order to get to (and create leverage and eventual success) at the negotiating table. If anyone would like a copy of the article, which includes a synopsis of Fabergé Ltd's future gemstone business under the brand please send an email here.

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